A Big Change
by x-touch-of-grey-x
Summary: Natalie moved to London and now goes to Hogwarts. This move not only makes a big impact on her life but also impacted many other peoples...in good and bad ways. PLEASE REVIEW! I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
1. A sucky day

Disclaimer: I own nothing….at all…

Chapter 1

Natalie walked quickly down the dimly lit corridor leading towards the dungeon clutching her books to her chest. She wasn't in a hurry to get to potions; she just didn't want to see anyone in the halls. She hated class change. It was when no teachers were around and she didn't like that.

She turned sharply into the potions classroom running straight into Alex Shwartz.

"I'm so sorry, I-"

"Watch where you're going! Maybe if you didn't walk so fast and weren't such a freak-"

But she was cut off by someone else.

"What's that problem?" Professor Mugkey asked approaching from behind.

Professor Mugkey was a tall, thin, balding man who wore old, moth-eaten robes and always had a smirk on his face as if he just found out a dark secret.

"Oh nothing…", Alex lied nonchalantly, "Natalie just accidentally ran into me; it's no big deal." She put on a fake smile as he nodded and went to his desk.

Alex shot Natalie - who was still on the floor - a 'you-just-wait' look and headed a group of friends that was waiting for her to tell the whole story.

Natalie scrambled frantically to pick up her books and headed for the desk in the back corner. She put her feet in the seat and wrapped her arm around her knees.

"Today we will be starting on antidotes." Professor Mugkey started. Kelsey tuned him out like she always did. She felt a tear stream down her face and she wiped it away quickly as if someone would even notice her.

This was not the first time this sort of thing had happened to her. It happened almost everyday and mostly in the halls…but it was a lot worse than a stupid threat.

Her past two years at Gobstrang Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry she had been considered a 'freak' and now that there was only one week left of her third year, she had to think of something to keep her from going back next year.

Kelsey ran straight to her dormitory after classes and searched frantically for a piece of parchment and a quill. She finally found some sitting on her room mate's bed and began to write her mom a letter.

_"Hello mum! How are things going for you? Well, you know how you got that job offer in __Britain__ and I wasn't too happy with it at first? Well, I've changed my mind. A move would sound great! I'm out of school in a week so we can just go then!"_

Natalie's mom (who was muggle) had been offered a job as a writer for a muggle newspaper in London. Natalie's dad dies years ago so they needed all the money they could get and the thought of getting away from this school was better than a sack of galleons.

_"Maybe I can do my last exam a day before so you can get me out early on the last day! Love ya! –Natalie"_

Natalie rushed up to the owlrey and attached her letter to a brown barn owl that was fast asleep and looked quite annoyed with the disruption. She sent it off as quickly as the sleepy owl would move.

Natalie's happy thoughts vanished when she heard someone coming up the stairs. The door burst open revealing Alex and two other girls that could barely be seen behind her. 

Alex was a big, bulky girl who very closely resembled a boy. Her hair was an ugly color of brown and bobbed around her ears while her face was covered in pimples and blackheads that made her look even uglier.

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked circling Natalie like an ugly, fat vulture. "Shouldn't you be in your dormitory doing other things…" Alex paused and shot a look at Natalie's hands now trembling at her sides, "…like slitting your wrists?"

Natalie quickly hid her hands behind her.

"I…uh….was…j-j-just sending a…..umm…letter." She replied. But she didn't wait to hear what Alex had to say to that and didn't care either. Natalie took a run for the door but was quickly caught be one of Alex's friends and thrown to the floor.

She stood back up now trembling violently. She was up only long enough to see a fist come flying at her. She fell to the ground once again and once she was down, Alex began to kick her repeatedly in the side, knocking the breath out of her.

As soon as she could breathe again she scrambled to her feet and ran to the door; this time dodging the two girls. She ran quickly through the corridors tears streaming down her face and blood running from her nose. She took the stairs three at a time to her dormitory and locked the door behind her. She leaned against the door and slid down, sobbing into her hands.

After a few minutes she stole a box of tissues off another girl's nightstand and began to clean up her nose.

"I can't TAKE IT!" She screamed as if someone was listening.

She grabbed anything she could get her hands off and began to throw them across the room while she screamed.

She threw herself onto her bed and was soon fast asleep.

A/N: Ok, I swear it will soon be a story with Hogwarts, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and all the peoples. Just a few more chapters because…of course…it had to start somewhere. Ok Please Review!!! hands out lollipops


	2. Surprise and moving

Disclaimer: I still own nothing…except a…ok never mind. I own nothing.

Chapter 2:

Natalie got no reply the next three days and then on the day that school let out, she finally got one.  The owl zoomed towards her with a letter dangling off its leg.

She grabbed the owl before it had even landed and ripped off the envelope so fast that she even ripped the letter in two and had to put it together to read it.

_Hello Natalie! It's great that you have changed your mind! The publisher has informed me that we need to be there tomorrow because he wants me to write an article that is to be in next week's newspaper._

_You won't be taking any exams today. You need to pack all of your belongings because I will be there to pick you up at __11:00__. I have already spoken with your headmaster about this. Thank you so much sweetie! I you'll like it in __London__!_

_See you at 11!          -Mum_

'It's a good thing I already took my last exam yesterday' she though to herself. Natalie couldn't believe what she was reading. It seemed as if her mom had everything already planned out as if she had just been waiting for Natalie to say it was ok to do all this.

Only two more hours of this wretched place! Natalie tore upstairs to her dormitory and packed her things as quickly as possible. She was ready to go an hour before he mom would be there.

An hour finally passed and her mom was walking through the door into the common room.

"Ready to go?" She asked happily as she pulled Natalie into a hug. She nodded.

Her mom had apparently come by broom and they rode that way for about 10 minutes until they reached a small field with one single car parked in it. When they landed, she put the broom in the trunk and they drove off to the Canadian airport. At no time at all, they were on an airplane, headed for London.

Natalie watched with amazement and fear as the city lights blurred beneath her. She didn't quite know what was so interesting about them, but she watched until the last few lights trickled away and soon left only darkness beneath them; which Natalie guessed was the ocean.

Natalie slowly drifted off to sleep and what seemed like minutes after, her mom was already waking her.

"Get up honey! We're here!" She mom shook her slightly and Natalie wiped some sleep out of her eyes.

"How long have I been asleep?" She asked wearily.

"Maybe three hours. You'll never be able to get to sleep tonight." Her mom smiled and grabbed the small bags that were on a rack above them.

Natalie followed her mom through a passageway that led into the airport where they would do all that boring signing stuff. As her mom went to the counter, Natalie found her a comfy chair and threw herself into it.

She played with her fingernails for a few minutes and then she heard someone say, "Hello!". She didn't look up because she thought it was just a friend saying hi to another friend that just got off a plane or something. Anyways…why would anyone say hey to _her_?

"Hello!" She heard again. This time it was accompanied by a shake of her chair as someone sat down heavily in the chair next to her. Natalie looked up this time.

"Hi." She said nervously. "Who are you?"

"My name is Hermione Granger! And you might want to hide that." She said pointing her finger at Natalie's bag. Her wand was sticking out where the zipper had opened. Then she turned her head slowly to Hermione.

"Are you a-"

"Yes." Hermione replied cutting her off before she could say it. "So where are you coming from? Are you on vacation or moving?"

"I..uh…I'm moving to London." She replied slowly.

"Great! Do you know what school you are going to yet?" She asked happily. Natalie had never seen anyone so happy to talk to her and get to know her…except for her mom. She started to feel like she's never felt before. She felt like she could say anything at all to Hermione like she was her…friend.

"No, I'm not quite sure yet. I don't even know if it is going to be a school in London, but I hope it is!"

Hermione made a grunting noise and looked as though she was upset. "I'm sorry! We are having a conversation and I haven't asked your name!"

"Oh! That's ok!" Natalie was quite amused how Hermione took everything so seriously but she still thought she was pretty cool. "I'm Natalie Cook."

"Cool! So.."

They soon engaged into a conversation about almost everything. They had been talking for about 45 minutes when Natalie's mom came over and said that it was time to go.

Hermione gave Natalie something called a 'fone-number'; a way of communicating by muggle devices or something, they hugged and said goodbye.

"Hold on," Natalie said to Hermione before she left, "You're not moving are you?"

"Oh no!" Hermione laughed. "I'm just going on vacation with my family. I'l be back in  a month or so."

They waved goodbye and went their separate ways.

"So who was that?" Natalie's mom asked as they got into a cab.

"Hermione Granger. She just walked up to me and started talking. She's really cool! She's a witch, too. Oh, and she gave me this…" She pulled out the phone number and showed it to her mom.

"Will you help me use the telp-a-fone?"

Her mom just laughed and nodded.

As they drove around Natalie looked out the windows at all the sights. London was a very dark, wet place filled with people walking allover the streets, making it very hard to get to their apartment in less than an hours time.

They finally found a run down apartment building with the number A67 on the front. They walked inside and were hit in the face by a strong odor or mold.

It was a very boring place with white walls, beige carpet and some very tacky furniture that looked like no matter where you put it, it would have looked horrible.

It was damp, but cool inside, making it bearable. There were some nails in the wall where some pictures had hung previously, and some wires that they were randomly taped to the wall connected to nothing as if some family had used it as decoration.

They brought in all their stuff from the car and used the rest of the day to get situated and organized. They finally finished and decided to watch some TV.

"Decent place." My mom commented looking around.

"Yeh…it's not bad." I lied.

It was actually much better than our old apartment that had loads of stains in the light brown carpet and bugs and rats crawling all over the place. This place was about three times bigger than their old one, too.

She was quite surprised when her mom pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you so much for doing this. You were right. We really needed this."

Natalie hugged her back tightly and gave her a smile. Then it suddenly dawned on her; her new school!

"Mom, what school am I going to?" Natalie asked.

"Oh! I forg-" She suddenly paused and stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time. "Honey what happened to you?" She asked looking at the bruises and cuts.

Natalie looked down quickly as if it would hide something.

Her mom lifted her chin gently so she was facing her, but Natalie was still looking at the ground.

"What happened?" She repeated.

"It's nothing, I just uh…fell…down some stairs."

Her mom gave her a skeptical look. "Is there something you need to tell me?"

Natalie sighed. "No, mom. I swear, I just fell downs some stairs!"

She still looked a bit worried but she didn't press the matter. Natalie would hate to have to explain to her mom that all these years she was being treated like that. Natalie decided to break the awkward silence.

"So what school am I going to?" She asked again.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Her mom answered proudly. "And you'll be under that finest headmaster; Albus Dumbledore!"

"Where is it? Here in London?" She asked excitedly.

"Of course! I'm not sending you to Durmstrang or Buexbatons!" Her mom answered as if Natalie knew what she was talking about. "Your schedule and supply list will all come later in the mail."

Natalie hoped that this was the school that Hermione was going to.

Her mom plopped down a large book in front of her.

"What's this?" Natalie asked as if her mom was mad.

"A book Dumbledore sent to you in case you wanted some background information on your school."

"Hogwarts, A History." She read aloud. "Great! I'll read it tonight when I go to bed."

Natalie set the book aside, grabbed the remote and began to flip channels.


	3. Shopping and off to school

Disclaimer: I still own nothing but a pack of gummy bears…

Chapter 3:

Summer had passed by very quickly and now that there was only a week left before the new term started, Natalie had to start thinking about school.

"Natalie! Hurry up and get dressed! This is the only day I've got off and if we don't get everything you need today then you're going to be seriously screwed!" Her mom screamed from the kitchen.

"I'm coming! Chill out man!" Natalie rushed into the kitchen, grabbed a cereal bar and ran out to the car.

They drove to the heart of London into a busy 'market square' looking like area. There were people everywhere pressing their faces to the glass of shops, peering inside trying to get a good look of something. They kept driving and it took them a while to get where they wanted to go because there were many people walking around barely noticing their vehicle. Her mom finally pulled into an empty parking lot, big enough for only three cars.

They soon looked like the rest of the crowd walking around nonchalantly until her mom turned sharply and stopped in front of a door that Natalie didn't even see. She looked up at the sign and read _The Leaky Cauldron. _They slowly walked inside and noticed a few wizards and witches here and there drinking large glasses of butterbeer.  

Her mom took her arm and walked her over to the back door and led her outside where a large brick wall stood in their way.

"Uh…mom?" Natalie questioned her mom in disbelief.

Her mom ignored her and walked forward so she was right in front of the wall.

"Pull out your wand and tap the bricks that I point to."

Natalie did as she was told and pulled out her wand and walked up to the bricks too, tapped all the bricks her mom pointed too. The bricks began to move and stopped, making a opening into a large market place.

"Woah." Natalie said. "Mom, how did you know that?"

"Dumbledore." Her mom replied simply. They walked through and the bricks closed behind them. There were witches and wizards clothed in long robes everywhere. There was about 15 little witches and wizards about the age of seven jumping around an outside candy shop.

The stores had anything and witch or wizard could need or want. There was a shop for quills and parchment that they went into first. Her mom pulled out a parchment with all the school supplies Natalie needed.

"One good quill, two bottles of black ink, and lots of parchment." She picked up all the things that Natalie needed and headed to the counter.

In about two hour's time, they had everything that they needed except for robes.

They walked into Madame Milkins robe store (I think that's the name) and saw a black-haired boy with large front teeth getting sized up. The sat down in some chairs and waited for their turn.

"Stand up straight for heaven's sake, boy! If she measures you wrong because you have bad posture, I am not buying you any new robes!"

An old lady with a dead duck on her hat and a leather purse was yelling at the boy although he was really doing nothing wrong.

"Yes, Gran." Replied the boy and quickly straightened up although it didn't make much of a difference.

After a few minutes they boy and the lady left and an old woman walked up the counter.

Natalie and her mom walked up to the counter.

"Hogwarts?" She asked.

"Um…yes." My mom replied not quite sure what the lady was talking about.

"And which house are you in my dear?" She asked scribbling down some stuff on a piece of parchment.

"Oh…well…um…We just moved here over the summer and this will be her first year at Hogwarts." Her mom replied.

"Oh! Ok! Well I'll get you sized up for your robes and the headmaster will get you your tie and your patch when you get sorted. Nothing to worry about." She added, smiling.

She wrote down a few more things then asked, "So would you like used or new material?"

"New." Her mom replied quickly.

"Mom! We can't afford that!" Natalie stared at her mom in disbelief.

"No. This is your first year at a new school and you are going to make a good impression! I have been saving up money to get you new robes for a long time." Her mom insisted.

Natalie still stared at her in disbelief.

'New robes?' She thought. 'Finally!'

When they got home, the both ate a quick dinner and went to bed. It was a tiring day but at least all their shopping was done. Natalie actually felt herself being excited to go to school. 'I am going to make a good impression.' She thought. 'I'm not going to go through what I went through at the other school again. It's going to be different this year.'

"Honey, wake up." Natalie felt some poking going on in her abdomen area and decided to surrender.

"What?" She looked at the clock and noticed it was five in the morning. "Mom! It's five!"

"Well you told me to wake you up this early because you wanted to get ready! We have to leave at 9!"

"What for?" Natalie asked as she turned to her other side planning to get more sleep.

"School starts today, silly!" Her mom said happily.

Natalie bolted out of bed and got into the shower without another word. Her mom just laughed and went to make breakfast.

It was a very long morning for Natalie. She showered, dried her hair (which was really wavy and poofy), then she put on some quick make-up (only mascara b/c she hates to look fake), then she put on some cool jeans that actually were long enough and flare (she always had straight jeans and she hated them), she pulled on a cute shirt and then left the worst for last…straightening her hair.

It took and hour and a half to straighten her hair but it was completely worth it. Her blonde hair was now very straight and was a little above the middle of her back. Straightening it with a straightening iron made it have a very thick look to it which she loved. 'Why didn't I think of this before? I actually look kinda good!'

She ran downstairs with put her trunk by the door.

Her mom let out a huge gasp. "Oh my gosh! I barely even noticed you! You look great! You'll be getting every guy at Hogwarts!" Her mom said.

"Yeah right." Natalie seriously doubted whether any guy would even look twice at her.

They drove down to the train station and they were their half an hour early. They hugged and said their goodbye's right between platforms nine and ten. Since her mom was a muggle, she could not go through the wall and wave her off to Hogwarts.

Natalie gave her one last hug. "I'll write you as soon as I get there!" And she stepped through the wall.

There was an amazingly red train right in front of her that had steam coming from the top of it. She saw other students already filing on board so she decided to as well.

She found an empty compartment near the back of the train and settled her self in. She heard the five-minute whistle blow and she heard more footsteps of people getting on the train. She looked out the window and saw that the platform was almost empty except for some parents.

She kept looking out the window as the train began to move. 'Well' she thought 'here we go.'

A/N: PLEASE REVIEW! YAY!


	4. Meeting new people

Disclaimer: I am still owning that pack of gummy bears…

Chapter 4:

Natalie heard some footsteps coming down the hallway but ignored them.

"There has to be an empty one somewhere." A male voice said.

"Well, if there aren't we'll just have to sit with Fred and George and all their annoying friends." Added a female voice.

"Well, they aren't _that_ bad." Said another male voice but different from the first.

A boy with messy, black hair and a scar on his forehead stopped at the doorway, his eyes fixed on Natalie. She didn't notice it till someone said "Go on!" from behind. Natalie looked up at the boy with much interest and stared at him until he sat down, then continued her gazing out the window.

"Um…Hello."

Natalie turned around again and saw that the words were spoken from a different boy with violent red hair.

"Hi." She replied.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Natalie Cook…you?" She answered trying to act as though she wasn't very interested in the two boys…but she was.

At that moment two girls came through the doorway. One also had bright red hair and looked a bit younger than the rest and the other Natalie knew at once.

"Hermione!" She yelped.

"Natalie! Oh it's great to see you again! I'm so glad you came to Hogwarts!" She said as she took a seat next to Natalie and while the red-headed girl sat down across from her.

"Everyone, this is Natalie. Natalie, this is Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Harry." She said as she pointed them out in turn.

"Erm…how long have you been going to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"This is my first year. I moved here from a wizard school in Canada." This was the first time Natalie had actually spoken more than a few words, making her American accent more apparent to the others.

"Oh cool." said Ron. "Do you know what house you're gonna be in yet?" 

"Nah, they'll sort me with the first years…that should make me feel special." They laughed and all were soon in a conversation.

"We'll, it's the Slytherin's ya gotta watch out for. Trouble. All of them." Ron said as he stuffed a few Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in his mouth and made a grotesque face.

"Well what houses are there?" Natalie asked. She couldn't believe there were so many nice people here at Hogwarts and unless she was mistaken, she had already made some new friends.

"Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor." Answered now scooting closer to Ginny so he could be closer to Natalie.

"We are all in Gryffindor. Huffelpuff and Ravenclaw are good too though, but it would be awesome if you got put in Gryffindor." Neville said and now had spoken for the first time, apparently nervous at the fact of someone new. But his nervousness was nothing compared to Natalie's although she tried to hide it.

Just then they all heard more footsteps coming down the hall and they looked to the door and as Ron stood up and looked out.

"Oh no." He said. Everyone seemed to know who he was talking about and all made annoyed faces.

"Why can't they just leave us alone?" Neville whimpered.

"Oh, don't listen to anything he has to say Natalie, He'll try to corrupt you to his stupidity." Hermione warned.

Natalie could barely see over the tall figure of Ron but did make out some bright blonde hair.

"Why are you in my way, Weasley?" A drawling voice said. Natalie could already tell that she didn't think she was going to like this person.

"What do you want?" Ron asked simply.

"I want to see what you're hiding." He answered.

"He's hiding me?" Natalie whispered to Hermione.

"Well, he's going to try because it's best if you don't meet Draco Malfoy. He'll just find someone new to torture." Hermione answered.

"What makes you think I'm hiding something?" He asked smoothly.

"Ugh. I don't have to put up with people like you." He said and shoved Ron aside who looked quite annoyed.

Malfoy looked straight to Potter.

"Oh, you're here, are you?" Harry didn't answer but continued to glare at him.

"I thought for sure you were going to be expelled after what you did. But nooo! Famous Harry Potter can't get expelled he's too precious!" He rolled his eyes while two large people behind him chuckled.

Malfoy looked around with much dislike etched in every portion of his face. Then his eyes landed on Natalie.

"And who is this?" He asked as he came and sat down next to Natalie.

"Don't worry about it." Harry said. "Don't think that just because she's new that you can try and corrupt her like you tried to do me the first time you met me." Harry was getting really angry and he wasn't quite sure why.

"Oh, I see…well I hadn't intended on 'corrupting' her as you said…I just wanted to know her name." He said looking back at Natalie.

"Natalie." Natalie answered shortly.

"Wanna come with me to get something to eat?" She asked Ginny and Hermione. They smiled and followed her out of the compartment.

"Wow, that was really cool!" Ginny said. "Did you see his face when you just left like that?"

"Haha! Yeah! It was really fun, too!" It was the first time Natalie she had ever stood up to someone like that and she felt great.

-Back in the compartment-

"Whoa, she completely blew you off!" Harry laughed. "And why were you talking to her anyways? She's muggle-born."

"I knew something was wrong with that whore." Malfoy said heading for the door.

"Shut your face!" Harry said standing up face-to-face with Draco.

Draco and Ron both look very surprised that Harry had stood up to him like this over a girl that he barely knew. Neville would have been surprised but he was kinda in his own little world.

"Oho! I see!" Malfoy said . "Harry's got himself a little crush!"

"Yeah, right. I barely know her." He said.

"Well, she's quite good looking, I'll give you that," Malfoy said acting as though he didn't hear Harry, "But I didn't think you would go for a mud-blood…ya know…she's kind-of _below_ you." He laughed and left before Harry could do anything.

"Why does he think I like her? I don't! I just think she's cool and I didn't like what he called her." Harry defended quite unconvincingly to Ron.

"You don't believe that git, do you?" Harry asked looking at the expression on Ron's face.

"Oh no!" Ron lied. "Of course not...oh no, here come Fred and George."

Sure enough Fred and George walked into the compartment.

"Hey, who was that chick walkin with Ginny and Hermione?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, I wanna get to know her! If ya know what I mean!" George laughed stupidly then stopped at the expression on Ron's face.

"Her name is Natalie and she just moved here. Be nice to her, she's cool." Ron said.

-Out in the hall-

"Yeah, and last year Harry saved a hippogriff and…yea. He's had some pretty tough times here." Hermione said and looked nervously to Ginny considering the fact that she almost spilled about Sirius.

"Wow. Harry's pretty amazing." Natalie said quietly.

They entered the compartment and everyone stopped talking.

"Whoa. That was weird." Ginny said.

"Hello, I'm Natalie." She said to Fred and George who were looking up at her like puppy dogs and not talking.

"What?" Natalie had never had a guy like her before so it was kind of hard for her to get the hint they did like her and weren't just being stupid.

"Nothing." Fred answered quickly. "Nice to meet you Natalie."

A/N: Please review!! It will soon get more exciting! Just wait….


	5. The Sorting

Disclaimer: Ok, now that the gummy bears are now consumed…I own only a Nirvana cd and a toothpick…yes…a toothpick…

Chapter 5

Natalie had never felt so happy in her life. She was actually talking to people and they seemed to actually like her. She had friends!

"Well we will be arriving in 15 minutes…we should go change." Hermione said as Ginny and Natalie followed her out of the compartment.

"Yeah we should too." Ron said as he reached for his robes.

"Ok, well we will be seein ya around! Can't wait to see what is going on at Hogwarts that everyone is talking about." They left the compartment and now only Harry, Ron, and Neville were left.

"I think she's nice." Neville commented suddenly.

"What?" Ron asked. "Who's nice?"

"Natalie. The only girls that are nice to me are Ginny and Hermione. She barely knows me and is already nice to me." Neville said quietly.

"Yeah, at least she's not stuck up. I thought she was going to be when I first saw her." Ron said.

Harry had not said anything. He just changed quietly into his robes.

"What's wrong Harry?" Neville asked when they were all in their robes waiting for the girls to come back.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I'm just hungry." He said.

"Yeah me too! I really want some of that chicken right now!" Ron said with a longing look on his face.

Harry was glad that the subject went to food so quickly. Why did he feel this way about her? He barely knew her! _No_. He thought. _I can't like her. Not until I at least get to know her better._

"Hey, are you guys done?" Ginny's voice came from right outside the door.

"Yeah, come on in." Harry answered who was now trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

"That was interesting." Ginny said randomly.

"What was?" Asked Ron who had a confused expression on his face, thinking he missed something.

"Fred and George walked in on us getting dressed." She answered.

"They WHAT?" Ron, Harry, and Neville all answered together.

"Yep. They said it was an accident but I don't think so. I think they wanted to see Natalie. Haha." Ginny answered.

"What?! Why would they want to see me!? If anything they would want to see you or Hermione, but not me. Oh no, don't go there. They just went into the wrong compartment!" She laughed trying to act cool but was now going pink.

Everyone was soon laughing and before they knew it they train was coming to a halt.

"Oh! Here we are!" Hermione said checking her watch.

"Oh no…I don't know where to go! Ya'll are going to have to leave me!" Natalie complained. She never felt more nervous in her life. "Watch me get lost or something!"

"No, you'll do fine! Just when you get off, you'll see a very large man calling the first years. You won't be able to miss him…believe me." Harry explained. "Just follow him and then everything will be fine."

Natalie smiled and hugged him in thanks and then left the group to find the 'large man.'

"Uh oh uh oh!" Ron said stupidly.

"Shut up! It was just a hug!" He defended.

Hermione and Ginny exchanged looks and looked away quickly trying not to laugh. They found an empty carriage and hopped inside.

Right when they shut the door it began rolling.

"I'm STARVING!" Harry said but wasn't lying this time.

"Yeah me too!" Ginny agreed.

"I really hope that Natalie gets put in Gryffindor." Hermione said.

The others nodded in agreement.

"But at least we know she won't be put in Slytherin! You know…because she's…well…like me." Hermione added quietly.

"Yeah she is but that's nothing to be ashamed of." Ron said to Hermione and looked her in the eye. They stared at each other for a moment then looked away quickly beginning to turn red.

"Well, here we are." Neville said breaking the silence.

They hopped up and went to the doors, waiting for them to open. When they did, they went quickly into the great hall and found their seats.

Hermione took her coat off and placed it in the seat next to her saving it for Natalie just in case.

When everyone was settled, they saw Professor McGonagall come through the large oak doors followed by first years, and at the very back, taller than everyone, Natalie. She smiled at Harry as she walked by making him blush.

After a few minutes when everyone had been sorted but Natalie, Professor McGonagall spoke.

"As you can tell, this young lady is not a first year. She is a fourth year that has moved here from another wizarding school.  I trust that whatever house she is placed in that you will help her find her way through the castle, along with all the first years."

She then stood to the side and said loudly, "Cook, Natalie!"

Natalie walked slowly forward. She felt every eye on her and felt as though she was about to puke. She sat down on the stool and felt the hat be placed upon her head.

The hat mumbled a few things that Natalie could make out and then said, "RAVENCLAW!"

They Ravenclaw's cheered and she got up from the stool. Before she even took a step forward, she heard the hat on the stool behind her say something.

"Excuse me?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Wait." It replied. "Bring Cook, Natalie back."

Natalie looked up at Professor McGonagall and she nodded curtly and Natalie could tell she didn't know what was going on either.

Natalie sat back down on the school and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on head.

It began to mumble incoherently again. Then it said, "Please excuse me. I have made a mistake. GRYFFINDOR!"

A loud roar of applause erupted from the Gryffindor table. Natalie turned to Professor McGonagall and asked, "Which one do I go to?"

Professor McGonagall turned to Dumbledore than turned back to Natalie. "Gryffindor. Congratulations."

Natalie headed for the table and took the seat next to Hermione that she had saved.

"Oh my gosh! It's never done that before! It sensed something different in you Natalie." Hermione said pulling her into a hug.

Natalie got many 'Hellos' and 'Congrats' from fellow Gryffindors. She was so happy that she had not been put in Ravenclaw.

After the headmaster had talked and the food had appeared, she began to eat and talk with her friends.

"Phat fwas awefome." Ron said with a mouthful of food. He swallowed it and said, "I actually thought for a minute there that you were gonna be in Ravenclaw!"

"We all did stupid." Ginny said.

"Yeah, that woulda sucked." Natalie said.

They were soon all talking but Natalie was waiting for Harry to say something. He had not said anything but Congratulations. Why would he not talk to her? _Oh well,_ she thought, _who cares what he thinks_. She tried to convince herself that she didn't care that Harry wasn't speaking to her but she wasn't doing a very good job of it…

A/N: Yay! Another chappie! Please Review!


	6. An Interesting Night

Disclaimer: Do I really have to keep doing these?

Chapter 6

Everyone was now making their way out of the great hall to go to bed. Hermione led the way to the common room as Natalie, Ginny, Harry, and Ron all followed.

"Wow!" Natalie gasped in amazement as she entered the common room. It was the most spacious, comfortable looking room. "This is amazing! So this is pretty much like the Gryffindor hangout?"

"Yeah." Answered Ginny. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yep. So where do I sleep? I'm t-t-tired!" Natalie said letting out a huge yawn.

"Oh, you'll be in my dormitory!" Hermione said. "We have so much fun in there! If _only_ the guys could come! Whoa it would be some crazy stuff!" 

Everyone looked at Hermione like she was crazy. She never talked like that.

"Um..Herm..? Are you ok?" Ron asked looking kinda scared.

"Of course! I just felt a little…rebellious." She laughed.

"Guys and girls can't go into each other's dorms?" Natalie asked confused. What did they think they were gonna do!?

"Well…_we_ can go into guys dorms if we choose but they can't come in ours." Hermione said. "They just aren't trust worthy. I mean look at 'em!"

"Yeah? And what will happen if we do?" Harry asked curiously.

"Oh well that's no fun! You find out when you try!" Hermione said playfully. "Come on, Natalie…hey what do you want us to call you? Natalie, Nat…?"

"Um…I've never really had a 'nick-name' before." She answered.

"Well what did your old friends call you? Just Natalie?" Ron asked.

"Um…yeah. They didn't bother." Natalie answered. She wouldn't dare tell them that she had been a complete loser at her old school.

"Oh well hmm…well have to think of something other than that." Hermione said. "Come on, let's get some sleep." She beckoned Natalie to follow her and she did. In a few seconds, they disappeared up the stairs.

"Not trust worthy?" Ron asked amused. "Hah! That's funny!"

"Hey, wanna see what happens if we do try to get in their dorm?" Harry asked mischievously.

"Um…well…" Ron said nervously. "What if we like get in trouble? Or we get gross bumps all over our face?"

"Aw! Come on! It can't be that bad! We can just say we got bored and curious or something…" He said as he made his way toward the girl's dormitory.

"Um…ok." Ron said running to catch up with Harry.

Harry went up about five steps and he felt something rumble and the ground go out from under his feet. He fell on his face and slid down into Ron who had been standing at the bottom laughing.

He looked up and saw a long slope turn back into stairs.

"Haha! That was awesome!" Harry exclaimed jumping back on the steps…this time backwards so he would slide down on his back instead of his stomach.

Everyone was looking at him like he was stupid except Fred and George who had decided to join him and were now looking like idiots.

"Do you have any idea how stupid you guys look?" Ron asked amused.

"Yeah? So what?" Harry said standing up at the end and had apparently had enough. 

"Ok, that was interesting. Let's go to bed." Harry said making his way to their stairs.

"So who tried to come up?"

Harry and Ron spun around to see Hermione at the top of the slope with a smug look on her face.

"Told you there was no point." She said as she slid down the slope easily.

"Yeah well it was fun." Harry laughed.

"Why are you here anyways? I thought you were going to bed." Ron asked.

"Well I wasn't tired so I decided to come back out. So whatcha wanna do?" She asked happily.

"Where's Natalie?" Harry asked suddenly out of his stupid mood.

Hermione's happy expression changed suddenly into a sad, pitiful one. "Oh, well…umm.."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Well…she just wants to stay up there." She answered.

"Did we do something wrong?" Ron asked.

"Oh no! She thinks you guys are great! It's just…hey you guys wanna go for a walk?" Hermione asked noticed some other people listening.

"Yeah." They answered.

It was 9:00 and there was still some light in the sky. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking around the lake, Hermione still looking sad.

"Hey, why did you get sad all of the sudden?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, and why did you want to go one a walk?" Harry asked exchanging glances with Ron.

"It doesn't matter." She answered simply. "Natalie has just had a pretty tough life and well…it's sad."

"Tell us." Ron pressed.

"No," she said, "She didn't want me to tell anyone."

"Well you can tell us." Harry said simply.

"No, you are the last person she would want to tell!" Hermione said quickly.

Harry was taken aback and had a shocked and confused expression on his face.

"Oh, ok….well I'm tired, goodnight." Harry said and without waiting for an answer, walked back up to the castle.

"What the…?" Ron said looking at Harry's back.

"What was that all about?" Hermione asked worried. "He didn't take it personally did he?"

"Well, apparently he did but he probably wouldn't want us chasing after him." Ron said.

"Yeah I guess…but I'm not tired…do you want to keep walking?" She asked.

"Yeah."

They walked around the lake and didn't talk very much. Hermione had never felt so uncomfortable in her life. Why was she feeling this way? With _Ron_? 

"Soo…" Ron said to break the awkward silence.

"It's getting pretty dark. We should go inside." She said quietly. She looked at Ron and saw him staring at her.

"What?" She asked looking down to the ground quickly.

"Um…How long have we known each other again?" He asked getting closer to her.

"Why?" She asked looking slightly scared.

Before she knew it, his lips were against hers…but she didn't pull away. She liked it. It seemed like forever before they pulled apart.

"Wow." She said backing a few steps away from Ron.

Ron looked down quickly and even though it was dark, she could tell he was blushing furiously.

"Well, we should get back…it's getting late." She said looking at the ground as though it was interesting.

"Yeah." They walked a few feet away from each other up towards the castle and disappeared through the large oak doors.

A/N: Thanks SOOOO much Weasley Girl for the reviews!!! I wish I would get more reviews though. L  But thanks for yours they are great!!! Keep them up please! And other people….PLEASE REVIEW! I LOVE REVIEWS!!


	7. Morning

Disclaimer: I own nothing….as I'm sure you already know.

Chapter 7

Natalie woke with a start, breathing heavily. She had cold sweat on her face and on her back. She listened and heard that everyone else was still fast asleep.

She looked at the clock._ 5:42. _She grumbled and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. But she couldn't. She felt as if it was the last thing she could do. _Why am I sweating like this?_ She asked herself. 

Once she decided there was nothing she could do, she got up, got in the shower, and straightened her hair….this time with magic that gave it the same look in like 2 seconds.

She looked at the clock again which now said _6:12_. She pulled on her robes, grabbed a quill and some parchment and went down to the common room.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. The common room was completely empty except for one person. He had his arms folded on the table in front of him and was resting his head on his arms.

Natalie walked quietly forward.

"Harry?" She asked quietly.

The boy didn't move so she said again, only a bit louder, "Harry?"

This time Harry moved. He slowly raised his head and rubbed his eyes with his fists. He looked around for the person who woke him and finally saw Natalie.

"What?" He asked sleepily.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked. "I mean…why aren't you asleep in your dormitory?"

"I don't know…I guess I just fell asleep out here." He said annoyed.

"Oh…ok…are you mad at me or something?" She asked taking a seat next to him. She remembered when he wouldn't talk to her when she had been chosen to be in Gryffindor.

He sighed. "No. I'm not." He looked at Natalie who was smiling slightly.

"Ok, well that's good because I got kind of worried." She said.

"Sorry. Well what are you doing up so early?" Harry asked as if he just now noticed she was next to him.

"Couldn't sleep." She answered simply. "So I came down here to write my mom."

"Oh, I see…what time is it anyways?" He asked still very sleepily.

Natalie looked at her watch. "6:36." She answered.

"Ok. Well, I'm gonna go take a shower but I'll see you at breakfast." He said scooting his chair back and standing up.

"Alright." Natalie said unrolling her parchment.

_Dear Mom, _she began, _Hogwarts is wonderful! I've already made some friends and they are great! Do you remember the girl I met at the airport? Hermione? Well she goes here! We are best friends! _

She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

_I haven't started classes yet but I will today. I will write you about how they are, too! Oh! And there is supposed to be some sort of special announcement tonight at dinner! I'll write you and tell you wheat it is afterwards! I can't wait to find out! Well I'm going to go for now. Love you!   -Natalie_

_P.S. Oh, and_

"Should I tell her just yet?" She thought to herself. "Nah."

She scratched out the P.S. and sealed up the letter. Then she realized something. She didn't know where the owlrey was!

"I'll just wait till after lunch to send it. Hermione can show me then." She said to herself.

She looked at her watch once again which now said 7:12. People were beginning to wake up because she could hear them walking around their dormitories.

She made her way up the steps and opened the door to her dorm and saw that Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati had already woken up and were getting dressed and combing their hair.

"Hello." She said happily. She was beginning to get bored by herself.

"Hello." They replied sleepily.

"Why were you up so early? You woke me up." Lavender said now putting on some eye shadow.

"Oh I'm sorry!" She said earnestly. "I just couldn't sleep, so I just got ready."

"Oh that's ok! It's your first ever lesson here today isn't it?" Parvati asked.

"Yeah." She said nervously. "Um…when do you find out what classes you have?"

"They give you your schedule at breakfast and then let you come get the books you need.

"Ok, thanks." She answered looking at Hermione. She had a triumphant look on her face and wasn't speaking. She went up to speak to Hermione but Hermione spoke before Natalie could open her mouth.

"I'm starving! Are you?" She asked happily.

Natalie nodded.

"Ok! Let's go get some breakfast!" She said taking Natalie's arm and leading her out of the dormitory.

"Look, I have to tell you something." Hermione said as they climbed out of the portrait hole and made their way to the Great Hall.

"Last night, um…me, Harry, and Ron went on a walk around the lake-"

Natalie listened intently. She really hoped that she wasn't going to say that she told Harry and Ron what she had told Hermione.

"-and Harry got upset at me because I didn't tell him why you wanted to stay in your dorm and he left and well…me and Ron-"

"Your KIDDING!" Natalie squealed loudly making some of the portraits jump.

Hermione laughed nervously.

"Aww! I knew he liked you! That's so sweet!" She said happily.

"So that doesn't like…make me…a…whore?" She asked dropping her voice to a whisper when she said the last word.

"Of course not! Are you guys going out? Like boyfriend/girlfriend?" Natalie asked with a huge smile on her face.

"Well..um..see…we haven't actually talked since. I think it was just something he did on accident. I don't even know he really likes me that way." Hermione said sadly.

"Well how long did it last? Was it quick and simple or…_enjoyable_?" She asked quietly.

"It was defiantly enjoyable!" Hermione laughed. "But he's a _guy_! What if he just like…used me to practice?"

"Oh come on! You think of the craziest things! You liked it; He liked it; there's definitely something going on." Natalie said flatly.

"You really think so?" Hermione asked with a smile on her face as they entered the Great Hall.

Harry and Ron were already eating breakfast and both looked kind of uncomfortable to see the two girls.

Hermione and Natalie sat down and began to fix their plates. No one said a word. 

Natalie tried her best to suppress a laugh. Awkward silences always made her laugh.

"HELLO!" Fred screamed in Natalie's ear.

"HOLY SHIT!" Natalie screamed loudly but luckily, only a few people heard and didn't seem to care.

Harry and Ron began laughing uncontrollably at Natalie's outburst and Hermione said, "_Natalie_!"

Natalie was glaring at Fred who had taken a seat next to her and then she began to laugh, too.

"That wasn't funny!" She said still laughing.

Her outburst had changed Harry and Ron's moods.

Ron and Hermione were now deep in conversation, both slightly red in the face.

Then Harry turned to Natalie.

"Listen, I'm sorry I was rude to you this morning."

"That's Ok." She said slightly absentmindedly. _Look at those blue eyes!_ She thought. _You are so hot I just wanna…_

"So are you excited about classes?" He asked breaking her thoughts.

"Oh! Not really." She laughed.

"Yeah I didn't expect you to be." He laughed with her.

There was a rustle of wings above and Natalie looked up.

"Schedules!" Yelled a boy named Dean Thomas.

An owl dropped a piece of parchment into Natalie's lap. She opened it and began to compare it to Harry's.

"We have almost every class together!" He exclaimed. "I'm not taking Muggle Studies."

"You are?!" Screeched Hermione.

"No, I'm not. Natalie is."  He answered.

"Great! So am I!" She said very happily.

They got up and made their way to their dormitory's to get their books.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!! They were great! Oh, and about the spacing in the first chapter…that was SO not my doing! I spaced the first chapter just like the rest but when I posted it, it went all gay. But anyways…PLEASE REVIEW! THEY MAKE MY DAY!.......seriously……


	8. Classes

Disclaimer: I still own nothing! Yay!…….

Chapter 8

It took them forever to get up to the North Tower for their first class.

"Divination…..is……horrible!" Ron panted and they reached the top of the stairs. "She'll….probably…predict your death….today."

Natalie and Harry laughed.

"Hermione isn't taking Divination?" She asked.

"Nah, she quit last year. Said it was a load of cock and bull." Ron answered.

Harry reached up and pulled a ladder down from the ceiling. Natalie didn't even notice it was there!

They all climbed up into a dark room lit with many candles. They were hit with a strong smell of incense and oils when they fully entered. Natalie gazed around. There were about twenty small tables with cushions around them instead of chairs.   

She followed Harry and Ron to a table in the middle and sat on one of the poofy cushions.

Soon the other students were filing in and taking their seats. A skinny woman with large glasses and many necklaces entered the room.  She went to the front and then immediately fixed her eyes on Natalie.

"Who are you?" She asked in a misty voice.

"Um…Natalie Cook." She answered slightly freaked out by this psycho.

"Ah! Did I not say last year that we would have someone new joining us?" Professor Trelawney said triumphantly, but still in her misty voice.

"No you didn't." Harry answered simply. The whole class turned to Harry.

"What do you mean?" She asked looking slightly annoyed.

"You never said, 'Someone new will join us', you said that 'Someone unwanted and disliked will join us'. That's not Natalie." He said very nonchalantly.

Natalie felt her face going pink. She smiled at Harry who smiled back and then turned o face Professor Trelawney again.

"Perhaps she is not disliked by _you_, but that does not mean she is not disliked by someone else." She said growing more and more annoyed.

Harry just shrugged.

"Ok on with the lesson." She said with her voice more tense than misty.

They left the tower half an hour later all looking tired form the smells and the fire.

"Hermione is right. That class is all shit." She said rubbing her eyes.

Harry and Ron laughed.

"Oh no." Ron said his expression changing quickly. "Potions next."

"Why is that 'Oh no'?" She asked following Harry and Ron down some steps that led to the dungeon.

"Because it's Gryffindor and Slytherin…together. Oh, and the teacher is horrible. Professor Snape. He's out to get Harry, you know. Finds a way to get him in trouble or embarrassed almost every lesson." Ron said scowling.

They walked into the classroom to find all of the Slytherin's there and most of the Gryffindor's. Snape wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Oh look! It's Potty, Weasel, and Potty's girlfriend!" Exclaimed Draco Malfoy from across the room.

The Slytherin's burst into laughter.

"Was that supposed to be funny? Because it really wasn't. It was actually kind of gay." Natalie said taking a seat between Harry and Ron.

This time the Gryffindor's burst into laughter.

"How dare you talk to me like that! You filthy mudblood!" Malfoy said with a scowl on his face.

The whole room went silent.

"I'll talk to whoever in hell I want to. My 'blood' does not affect how I talk or who I talk to. But don't get me wrong…it's not like I _want_ to talk to you." She answered as if she didn't have a care in the world.

But it wasn't Malfoy who advanced on her with a wand, it was Pansy Parkinson.

"You shut up about him!" She yelled.

But Natalie didn't pull out her wand. Harry tried to but she stopped him. Just then Snape came into the room and he saw the scene: Pansy with her wand out pointed at Natalie who wasn't armed and looked too innocent for words.

"What's going on here?" He said walking up to Pansy who lowered her wand quickly.

"Um…well…she was saying mean stuff about Malfoy!" She exclaimed pointing a fat finger at Natalie.

"Well…she's not the one with her wand out is she?" He said coldly. "10 points from Slytherin and a weeks worth of detention, Mrs. Parkinson."

As Snape went up to his desk, Harry leaned over to Natalie.

"That was brilliant!" He whispered. "How did you know he was coming? I mean she could've blown you face off if you didn't pull out your wand! How did you do that?!"

"I heard him coming down that hall so I just decided to frame her! Very simple." She laughed quietly.

Ron as well as the rest of the Gryffindor's were amazed about the whole thing but they Slytherin's couldn't have been more pissed.

"Today we are doing peace droughts. They help stressed people become more relaxed. The recipe is on the board, you may begin." Snape said.

Natalie looked up to see Hermione a few tables over from them, helping Neville when Snape wasn't looking.

"NO!" She whispered to Ron grabbing his arm before he dumped something into his cauldron.

"What?" He said looking confused.

"Don't put in the shredded frog hearts yet! You haven't added the snake eyes!" She exclaimed in a whisper making sure not to be overheard by Snape.

Ron was looking at her like she was an angel. "Thanks!" He said going to the snake eyes.

"Your potions should be a pale green at this point." Snape said as he wandered from table to table examining the student's progress.

"Amazingly enough Potter," said Snape from behind making them all jump, "your potion is correct, as is Weasley's.  What is your name?" He said turning to Natalie.

"Natalie Cook, sir." She answered.

He swept away without a word up to his desk.

They left the class all feeling very hungry and headed to the Great Hall for lunch.

"That was the _easiest_ potion ever!" Hermione exclaimed as she and Natalie took seats next to Harry and Ron, waiting for lunch. "Even Neville got it right!"

"I wonder what class we have after this…" Natalie said as she took a bite of a ham and cheese sandwich and pulled out her schedule.

She swallowed her food and said, "Care of Magical Creatures."

"Oh, I wonder what Hagrid is going to bring today." Ron said slightly worried.

"I have no idea…" Harry said stuffing food in his mouth. "But this sandwich is good!"

A/N: Haha! I didn't know where to end it so I just did it like that! Well anyways….thanks SOO much for the reviews!!! I about pissed in my pants when I checked my email and saw 4 REVIEWS! Haha I love them! They make me happy! ::dances::  PLEASE REVIEW on this chapter!!!


	9. Nobody's Home

Disclaimer: ….Eric drinks his own pee……

Chapter 9

A cool breeze blew threw Natalie's long hair as she, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way down to Hagrid's hut.

"Oh! That's Hagrid!" Natalie exclaimed as she caught sight of Hagrid, remembering when he led her to be sorted the first day.

They approached a beaming Hagrid.

"Alrigh' Harry? I 'aven't seen you yet this year! Hey Ron, 'Ermione." Then he caught sight of Natalie.

"Ah! And who is this?" He asked cheerfully

"This is Natalie." Ron answered for her.

Before Hagrid could say anything they heard a drawling voice behind them.

 "Oh look! It's little miss prefect!"

They all turned around to see Malfoy and his gang of Slytherin's.

"Oh look! It's little _miss _entertainer!" She said with an emphasis on 'miss'.

This caused the Gryffindor's to burst with laughter and the Slytherin's to whisper to each other, all glaring at Natalie.

"Yeah, well I don't think that you will be laughing much longer after you take a look at this." He said brandishing a rolled up Daily Prophet.

Natalie walked forward, not hesitating at all and grabbed the newspaper out of his hand.

She opened it up and read:

**Three Muggles Murdered!**

_Yesterday on September the 3rd, at precisely __4:32 pm__, 3 muggle women were killed. Long supporter of the Dark Lord, Markus Duffel had been taken to Azkaban prison after killing muggles, Ruth Wayne, Debora Shanty, and Kelsey Cook. They were all on their way to the grocery store, (a store where muggles buy food), when Duffel said that they 'got in his way when he was in a hurry' so he did the quickest thing possible. Duffel has gotten a life sentence to Azkaban. _

Natalie stared at the paper in disbelief.

"No." She whispered. "It's not possible."

"Sure it is." Malfoy said happily.

Her head was spinning. She felt as though she was about to throw up.

Natalie looked slowly up from the paper to Malfoy, her eyes red with tears and fury.

"You think it's FUNNY?!" She said advancing on Malfoy, but Harry and Ron held her back.

She began punching at anything, trying to get to Malfoy, tears streaming down her face. She was screaming with pain; all she wanted to do was tear Malfoy to pieces.

"SHE'S NOT GONE! SHE'S NOT GONE!" She screamed repeatedly, though her words were muffled through her cries. "YOU WROTE IT YOURSELF! YOU STUPID BASTARD! YOU MADE IT ALL UP!"

"Yeah? Then why are you making such a fuss if it's all _fake_?" He laughed.

Since nobody but the Slytherin's knew what she was crying about, they just watched.

Natalie bit Harry giving her use of one arm which she used to smack Ron. She didn't go for Malfoy though; she tore up the grounds to the castle.

Hermione picked up the soaked newspaper and began to read; Harry and Ron reading over her shoulder. Hermione gasped and dropped the newspaper. She turned to Harry and Ron who could not have looked more sad and angry at the same time.

"It this some kind of JOKE!?" Harry bellowed advancing on Malfoy with his wand raised. "Because it's NOT FUNNY!"

"Well maybe it made that git realize she wasn't all so perfect!" Malfoy said pulling out his wand.

"DO YOU THINK THAT HAVING BOTH PARENTS' DEAD IS FUNNY?! YOU FUCKING IDIOT! IT'S _NOT _!"

Everyone stared after Harry as he made his way up to the castle, also.

"I'm so sorry Hagrid!" Hermione said before she and Ron made their way up to the castle, following Harry.

Hermione and Ron caught up with Harry inside.

"How could he think that was funny?" Harry said quietly to Ron and Hermione.

"He's a sick idiot." Ron said. 

Hermione got a quick glimpse of Harry's face and saw that his eyes were now very red too.

"Fizzing Whizbee's." Harry said to the Fat Lady.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" She questioned opening up for them.  They were barely inside the common room when they heard very loud music coming from Natalie's dorm:

_Open your eyes and look outside, find a reasons why._

_You've been rejected, and now you can't find what you left behind._

_Be strong, be strong now._

_Too many, too many problems.___

_Don't know where she belongs, where she belongs._

_She wants to go home, but nobody's home._

_It's where she lies, broken inside._

_With no place to go, no place to go to dry her eyes.___

_Broken inside.___

"I'll go see." Hermione said.

Hermione opened the door quietly and looked inside. She saw Natalie who was crying so hard that she was shaking violently.

"I'm _so_ sorry!" Hermione said sitting down next to Natalie and pulling her into a hug. It took everything Hermione had not to break down crying, too. She felt so bad for Natalie.

Natalie returned her hug but was still crying a great deal. The front of Hermione's robes

were now soaked but she did not care. The song continued on:

_Her feelings she hides._

_Her dreams she can't find._

_She's losing her mind._

_She's fallen behind._

_She can't find her place._

_She's losing her faith._

_She's fallen from grace._

_She's all over the place._

After about twenty minutes, Hermione and Natalie went downstairs to see both Harry and Ron jump up from their chairs to go and hug Natalie.

"I'm sorry Natalie but Hagrid expects me and Ron to get back to class." Hermione said rather nervous to see Natalie's reaction.

To her great relief, Natalie nodded in understanding.

"Ok, well right when we get out we'll come back. Harry will stay with you." Hermione and Ron gave Natalie one last hug and left the common room.

Harry held on to Natalie who was beginning to cry again, and led her to the couch. He sat down next to her and she immediately leaned on Harry's chest and began to cry again. Harry wrapped his arms around her and put his chin on her head.

Suddenly the crying stopped. Harry looked down to see that Natalie was fast asleep, tears still on her face.

A/N: AHHH! Don't you just hate Malfoy?! I wanted to cry just writing this chapter! Oh, and thanks to Avril Lavigne for the song! Well thanks SO much for the reviews!! PLEASE REVIEW ON THIS CHAPTER!!! It will make me so happy! Have fun on vacation Weasley's Girl!!


	10. Dealing

Disclaimer:  I still own nothing….

A/N: ALOHA! Thanks so much for the reviews!! They made me so happy! But if it's possible can you review on each chapter? I need to know if the chapter was good or not. Reviews help me sooo much! I mean it takes like 10 seconds to review…depending on how fast you type and what the speed of your computer is divided by the velocity….ok I made all that up, I just thought it would be fun to sound smart for a second there. Ok PLEASE REVIEW! You are probably sick of hearing me said that but…yeah. Ok thanks again people! ...::hands out gummy bears::... OH! And people have been asking me if it was a joke or if Natalie's mom was really dead…sry but she's really dead. Natalie just was saying it was a joke because she didn't want to believe it. Ok reviews! Yay!

Chapter 10

Natalie was running. She was running down a busy street looking for something; someone, but she couldn't find it. She opened her mouth to scream something above the crowd but she couldn't. No matter how many times she opened her mouth, nothing came out. No one could hear her…no one could help her….she just needed to find--

"Natalie." Harry whispered shaking her softly.

She looked around. She had forgotten where she was for a second there.

"Hmm?" She grumbled as she rose slowly off of Harry's chest.

"You were having a bad dream." He said with a worried look on his face.

Natalie looked down with embarrassment. Did he see her opening her mouth stupidly over and over?

"What time is it?" She said going to the other side of the couch to give Harry some personal space. She felt so stupid that she had slept on him!

"Um…" he said checking his watch, "Lunchtime. Hermione and Ron will be here any minute to see if you're ok." He said giving her another worried look.

They sat there a few moments in silence.

"Harry?" She said suddenly. He looked over at her making her blush slightly. "Will you um…not tell Hermione or Ron….about…well…"

"Yes." He interrupted. He knew that all those times that he had nightmares that he never wanted to tell Hermione or Ron about them. Although she was new, she seemed to know exactly how the two would react.

"Thanks." She said quietly, looking to the floor again. She began to cry softly when the fact of her mother being gone hit her hard in the chest again.

Harry seemed worried that this would happen again. He went down to her and sat as close as he possibly could to her. She once again leaned on his chest, her head in her hands sobbing.

Harry pulled her into another hug. This was what she needed. Someone to hug her….someone to comfort her…someone to make her feel like she was loved….that someone was Harry….

Just then the picture frame to the common room swung open. Hermione and Ron entered quietly but quickly, looking around for Harry and Natalie although it took no time at all; they were the only two in there.

They both stopped to look at the scene. Neither Harry nor Natalie seemed to notice that the two had come in. Hermione looked as if she was going to cry and Ron gave a little, "Uh oh! Uh oh!" making Hermione smack him hard in the stomach.

They walked slowly over to the two and Natalie looked up, which made Harry look up.

"Hey." Said Harry weakly.

"Are you ok?" Hermione asked, taking a seat next to Natalie on the couch.  Natalie nodded.

Natalie still was leaning on Harry's chest and he was stroking her long hair.

"Hagrid read the article." Hermione said with a note of happiness in her voice. "He didn't quite get it at first, but…I explained. He was so furious with Malfoy that he took fifty points from Slytherin and wrote a note for him to take to Professor McGonagall. I'm not quite sure what it said but…"

"I have a feeling Malfoy's going to get something a lot worse than points taken when McGonagall finds out!" Ron laughed as he finished Hermione's sentence.

Natalie and Harry laughed as well.

"So are you coming down to lunch?" Hermione asked with the pitiful look in her eyes again.

Natalie didn't answer. Lunch. If her mother had been…..than she would be up in the owlrey sending her a letter right now about her first day.

"I'm not hungry." She said finally letting everyone breathe again. "I think that I'll just go…sit on my bed." She said getting up from Harry who grabbed her hand to stop her from going, but once he had realized what he did, he let go immediately.

"Ok…" Hermione said still looking at Harry with a confused look on her face. "We'll be back…do you want us to bring you anything?"

"No. I'm not hungry." Natalie said. She wished they would leave. They loved them so much but she really wanted to be alone right now.

"Ok well…see you." Ron said sadly.

They waved and left the common room. Natalie went upstairs and turned on some music…it always made her feel better in some way when she was sad. But this was worse than sad.

_It's a long wait, is there anything?_

_For an answer, worth looking for_

_Is there any news worth loving for?_

_Is there any word worth lying for?_

_Is there trauma, is there anything_

_Or a struggle worth waiting for_

_Am I missing, worth living for?_

_Was the body found worth dying for?_

Natalie broke down in tears again. Every time she thought of the fact of her mother gone sounded like she heard it for the first time.

She had no one. No one at all. Where would she go when school got out? Who would she live with? Would she live with a foster family? Would they let her continue to go to Hogwarts? She had so many questions racing through her mind…but she didn't care…her mom was gone….forever.

-At lunch-

Harry, Ron and Hermione all entered the great hall to see many confused faces. Harry looked over at the Slytherin table to see that Malfoy was no where to be seen. The three took seats next to Fred, George, and Ginny who shared the same confused faces with everyone else.

"Is it true?" Ginny asked with a worried look on her face.

Hermione nodded solemnly.

"Where is she?" George asked, for the first time not looking like he was about to cause trouble. Hermione looked surprised at George. He was actually….serious. "Is she ok?"

"Yeah, she's in her dorm." Harry said playing with his food.

"Well talking about it twenty-four seven isn't going to make her any happier. She needs to get her mind off of it. Of course it's sad and she's had all day to deal with it but make sure she comes to dinner tonight." Fred said happily.

They were all looking at him like he was crazy.

"She just lost everything she's got!" Hermione said and then suddenly clasped her hand over her mouth.

"What?" Harry said finally looking up from his food. "She's got her Dad."

Hermione shook her head again. They all gasped.

"She's got no one at all. She's a lot like Harry." She added quietly, now looking at _her_ food.

Everyone always thought that she was a normal girl with a normal family. Aunts, Uncles, cousins, grandparents…but she had nothing but a few friends.

Lunch became very quiet after that.

It was the quickest lunch ever. Everyone wanted to get away from the awkward silence or try breaking it with sniffs or coughs.

After lunch they made their way back up to the common room to get their stuff for their next class. The first thing they heard when they entered the common room:

_Just freak out let it go!_

_I'm gonna live my life!_

_I cant ever run and hide!_

_I wont compromise cause! _

_I'll never know!_

_I'm gonna close my eyes!_

_I cant watch the time go by!_

_I wont keep it inside!_

_Freak out let it go!_

_Just freak out let it go!_

"Wow, she really likes her music." Ron said walking up to his dormitory to get his books.

A/N: Ok well as you can tell I love music! Yay! I love you use lyrics because they express so much. The first lyrics were Dashboard Confessional and the second set was Avril Lavigne again. Ok well please review! Yay I got more!!  Ok I love you reviewers so much! Keep them up!


	11. Another surprise

Disclaimer: Yay! I bought the soundtrack to Prisoner of Azkaban! That's the only thing I own…

Chapter 11

Ron waited with Harry as Hermione went to check on Natalie. A few minutes later, Hermione came down with some books.

"It she going back to classes?" Ron asked as Hermione reached the bottom of the steps.

Ron's question was answered when Natalie emerged with a book under one arm while the other was pulling the door closed behind her.

She came quickly down the steps smiling.

"Come on," She said walking past them to exit the common room. "We're going to be late for classes."

"Is she alright?" Harry asked turning to Hermione.

"She still very sad, of course, but she insisted on going to classes considering it's her first day. She said she was going down to Hagrid's tonight to make up for his missed class." She answered.

"But why is she so happy?" Ron said following them out of the common room.

"She's not 'happy' about the situation at all, she's just trying to have a positive outlook and not let it get to her. Don't bring it up and don't feel sorry for her. It's the last thing she wants or needs right now. Just be happy around her and she might be able to deal with this." She said catching up with Natalie.

Harry and Ron waved good-bye to Hermione and Natalie and disappeared around the corner.

"You're going to love Muggle Studies!" Hermione said brightly. "It's so fun to see Muggle's from a wizard's point of view!"

Natalie laughed at Hermione's enthusiasm and followed Hermione into the classroom. Many heads turn to see Natalie already back in classes. She heard whispers all around her but she didn't care.

"-how can she not be sad?"

"-doesn't feel bad at all-"

"-it's good she's come back-"

Natalie took a seat next to Hermione and pulled out her book, some parchment and a quill.

-Later that day-

Natalie and Hermione met up with Ron and Harry and went _back_ to the common room to drop off their books before they went to dinner.

They took seats in the Great Hall next to Fred and George who were talking with their heads together, but pulled apart when they saw the others.

"I can't wait to hear the announcement tonight!" George said eagerly.

"Yeah, everyone was talking about it on the train." Harry said taking a seat next to Natalie.

At that moment Dumbledore stood up at the front table.

"Tuck in!" He said with his arms outstretched.

Dinner was definitely the best meal of the day. They had almost any food they could think of from meats to pies. Ron was eating two chicken legs at once and Hermione was scooping some éclair cake onto her plate, apparently deciding to skip dinner.

Harry put some mashed potatoes onto his plate but only ate a few bites of it; either because he was too busy talking to Ron or because he wasn't hungry.

Natalie sat with her elbows on the table, resting her chin in her hands; every now and then reaching for the pumpkin juice. The last thing she felt she could do was eat. She was ready to hear the big 'announcement' and go to bed.

It seemed like forever till Dumbledore stood up again and the plates cleared.

"I am sure, that all of you have been waiting to hear this announcement for a few days now." he started, looking around the Great Hall through his half-moon spectacles. "I mush start by saying that there will be no Quidditch this year."

Many moans of annoyance and anger filled the Hall. Harry turned to Fred and George quickly with a VERY pissed and confused look on his face.

"But…" Dumbledore started again as the Hall silenced almost immediately. "There is some good news. This year, the Tri-Wizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts."

Many heads turned and the moans of anger from the Quidditch announcement turned into gasps of excitement.

Natalie wasn't the only one confused. She saw Harry turn to her and they exchanged confused glances.

"Though some of you may know of this event, some don't. So I ask you to bear with me as I explain to the rest." Dumbledore said happily.

As Dumbledore explained, Natalie sat with her mouth slightly open with amazement. It sounded like so much fun! Students from other schools coming here? Tasks for three people! She couldn't wait!

The Great Hall emptied that night with excitement ringing through the halls; except for Fred and George who were fuming because they couldn't enter. 

"It would be so awesome if we could enter!" Natalie said following everyone to the common room. "If I was old enough I would…"

Ron kept saying, "Ten thousand galleons!" with a longing in his voice.

"Natalie!"

Natalie whipped around to see Professor McGonagall behind her standing next to a stone-faced Malfoy.

"Yes, Professor?" Natalie asked walking up to McGonagall.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stopped walking to see what was going on.

"Move along you three. I just need to speak to Mrs. Cook." She said flatly. 

They left very reluctantly out of sight.

"Follow me." Professor McGonagall said turning and walking away, Natalie and Malfoy close behind her.

Natalie could feel Malfoy's eyes on her every now and then but she kept looking ahead of her, refusing to let herself catch Malfoy's eye.

McGonagall turned into her classroom and shut the door behind Malfoy and Natalie.

"Take a seat." She said walking behind her desk and taking a seat herself.

They both sat down slowly in front of her and waited for her to talk.

"I am sorry to hear about your mother." McGonagall started with a very pitiful look in her eyes. Natalie just nodded, looking at the floor. 

"But I am even sorrier to hear of the way it was announced to you." McGonagall said with a flash in her eyes as she turned to Malfoy.

Ever since Natalie knew Malfoy, she had never seen him like this. He looked….sorry.

"Hagrid has punished Malfoy by taking fifty points, but he sent the rest of the punishment to me. I have decided to let _you _decide what you think is a suitable punishment for this terrible behavior." She said looking back at Natalie.

Malfoy looked up with his mouth open and an utter look of 'you're kidding!' on his face.

Natalie just shook her head and continued to look at the floor.

"What do you mean?" McGonagall asked.

"No." Natalie answered simply. "I don't want to 'punish' him. Fifty points will do." She was still gazing at the floor.

"Are you sure about this?" McGonagall asked confused.

Natalie nodded. She knew that if she 'punished' Malfoy, hatred toward her would raise to its highest. But even if Natalie DID care what people thought about her, she wasn't the type to give people punishments. She was going to be the mature one here; not start a war between the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's.

"Ok then….Malfoy, you are very lucky that only a few points were taken. You may leave now." She said tensely.

He left the room without a word and shut the door behind him.

"That was very mature of you." McGonagall said, but still looked a bit disappointed that no punishment was made.

"But that is not the main reason I called you down here." She said.

Natalie looked up now. What else could there be?

"Your mother was secretly keeping a savings account-"

"WHAT?!" Natalie interrupted. She couldn't help herself. Where did her mom get that kind of money?!

"Yes. Let me finish. It was for both of you for protection in case you perhaps ran out of money. Anyways, considering she's…yes well all her belongings now belong to you. That means the apartment and everything. Well back on subject…Dumbledore has kindly transferred all of your mother's savings from muggle money, into wizard money. You have your own Gringott's vault now."

"Really?" Natalie asked breathlessly. "How much money is there?"

Professor McGonagall didn't speak for a moment but then said, "Fifty thousand galleons."

A/N: WOO HOO! Natalie be rich! Haha! Thanks so much for the reviews!!! They made me sooo happy! I try to update as much as I can! This story is so fun to write! And you reviewers make it better! It makes me feel special that people like me story! Please review on this chapter!!! PLEASE REVIEW!!!! YAY!


	12. Fights

Disclaimer: Me own nothing.

Chapter 12

Natalie walked quietly back to the common room. She wasn't thinking about where she was going, she was just letting her feet take her, and in no time, she was standing in front of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" She asked.

"Fifty thousand galleons." Natalie said quietly in disbelief.

"Excuse me? That's not the password." Said the Fat Lady slightly annoyed at the disruption and the wrong password.

"Oh, sorry. Fizzing Whizbee's."

Natalie entered the common room to see an anxious Hermione and Ron waiting for her.

"-what'd she want?"

"-did Malfoy get in trouble?"

"-what's wrong?"

"Where's Harry?" Natalie asked taking a seat by the fire.

"He went to bed but that's not the point-"

"Went to bed?! It's 8:00!" Natalie said aghast.

"Yeah, he was just tired…but anyways tell us." Hermione persisted.

"Um…McGonagall told me I could punish Malfoy anyway I wanted, except for expulsion." She started.

Ron grinned widely, waiting for the next sentence.

"And…?" Hermione asked when Natalie didn't continue.

Natalie hesitated then said, "I kinda…um…let him go."

"What do you mean 'let him go'?" Ron asked, with the grin completely gone.

"Well…without punishment."

"WHAT?!" Ron bellowed.

"What?! Was I supposed to take a hundred points and give him detention!?" Natalie asked angrily.

"YES!" Ron said standing up now.

"Why?! So Gryffindor and Slytherin can be at each other's throats even WORSE?!" Natalie said standing up too. "ONE of us has to be mature!"

"Sit down you two! You're making a scene!" Hermione said still sitting but on the edge of her seat.

They both sat down reluctantly.

"I think Natalie has some feelings for Malfoy, that's why she didn't do anything about it." Ron said matter-of-factly.

"Oh yeah." Natalie said sarcastically. "That's funny cause you know I like H-"

They both were now looking at her waiting for her to finish, although they really didn't need her to.

"I'm tired, too." She said standing up, glaring at Ron. She went up to her dormitory and disappeared behind the door.

"Good going, Ron." Hermione said turning to Ron. "Do you really think that she would like Malfoy? She was doing the right thing being mature and all; but you wouldn't get that. I'd be surprised if you knew what the word 'mature' meant." She said coldly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked quietly but his voice was full of fury.

"You know exactly what it means." She said even quieter.

They were glaring daggers at each other but when Hermione saw Ron's eyes move from her to someone behind her, she turned.

"I thought you were in bed!" Hermione exclaimed watching Harry come and take a seat between her and Ron.

"Couldn't sleep. I wanted to see what happened with-"

"She went to bed." Ron interrupted.

"Oh." Harry said sadly. "Did you find out what happened?"

"Some of it but we would've found out more if Ron would've kept his mouth shut." She said harshly.

Harry gave Ron a confused look so he explained the whole thing, with Hermione interrupting a few times to correct some parts.

"Hmm…" Harry said looking at the table.

"Oh no…" Ron said making all of them turn again.

Natalie was coming down the stairs so fast it was a surprise she didn't fall. Harry looked at her and saw that she had tears in her eyes but she wasn't crying, and she also had something clutched in her hand.  She walked quickly right by the three not looking at them, and left the common room.

"What the…?" Harry said looking puzzled.

"Probably just another one of her scenes." Ron said uninterestedly.

Hermione shot him another glare and left the common room after her.

Harry and Ron sat silently for a few moments.

"Do you really think she likes Malfoy?" Harry asked quietly examining his fingernails.

"Well I don't really think so because…well when I said that to her she said, 'That's funny cause you know I like H-' but she stopped there and went to bed."

"I wonder who she was going to say." Harry said mainly to himself but Ron heard.

"I don't know…" Ron answered looking at the fire.

-In the hall-

"Natalie! Natalie, wait!" Hermione called after Natalie who stopped. "What is it?" She asked breathlessly next to Natalie.

"Look." She said thrusting a piece of parchment into Hermione's hand.

She opened it slowly and read:

Natalie! I haven't heard from you since you arrived! How are things going there? I hope you've made some good friends! How are you classes? You teachers? Oh you have to tell me everything!

I can't wait to see you at Christmas Holiday's! Have you heard the exciting news yet? I won't tell you incase you haven't heard. Ok well I have to go to the grocery to pick up a few items. Please write me back soon! I can't wait to hear from you!

Much Love,

Mum

Hermione looked up to see Natalie crying but making no noise.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Hermione said pulling her into a hug.

They broke apart and Hermione gave her back the letter. "Where were you going?"

"I don't know." Natalie said wiping tears off her face. "I really wanted to just go to the common room and sit but Ron was there." She said; her voice changing bitterly when she said 'Ron'.

"Don't listen to a word he says. He's stupid."

Natalie laughed and smiled.

"Come back to the common room. I'm sure Harry will want to see you."

They both laughed and turned to walk back to the common room.

When they entered they noticed that it was completely empty except for Harry and Ron.

Natalie took a seat between Harry and Hermione, who shot Ron a 'keep-your-mouth-shut' look.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked facing Natalie.

She nodded and handed the letter to Harry who read it with Ron reading over his shoulder.

Harry handed it back with a piteous look in his face and gave a quiet, "I'm sorry."

It seemed as if all of Ron's anger had turned into sorrow, and he was no longer mad at Natalie. This pleased Hermione a lot.

"Was that the only thing McGonagall called you down for?" Ron asked quietly.

Natalie sighed, leaned back in her chair, looked at the floor and shook her head.

"What else?" Hermione asked trying not to sound to eager.

Natalie explained to them the whole savings account and Gringott's thing. But she hadn't said how much.

"Are you serious?!" Hermione said with her mouth slightly open.

"How much?" Ron asked leaning forward.

Natalie hesitated. "You promise you won't tell anyone?"

They all nodded.

She sighed and said, "Fifty thousand galleons."

Hermione gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, while Harry and Ron let out laughs.

"That's awesome!"

"You're rich!"

"You could buy five firebolts!"

"Can I have some?"

"I know, I know. I just want to know where my mom got that sort of money. I mean…we've always been kind of…poor." Natalie said.

"Well you aren't any more!" Ron said happily.

A/N: haha that was kindof a pointless chappie, kind of not. Whatever. Haha ok well thanks for the reviews! Okey doke someone asked me if this was a harry/hermione fic…well….its more of a ron/hermione and harry/natalie….I mean yea Harry and Hermione are main characters but its not a fic bout just them…ok! Just wanted to clear that up for whoever asked it! Yay reviews!!! Haha oh and I don't remember what the exact earnings for the Triwizard tournament are. It might be a thousand galleons, it might be ten thousand lol I dunno…I read the fourth book like a month ago, then the fifth, and then the third, and now im on the second. lol im so confused…haha ok anyways…PLEASE REVIEW ON THIS CHAPPIE!! :::does stupid dance:::


	13. Suspicion

Disclaimer: I own nothing but a really hot guys phone number…GO ME!

Chapter 13

The next few days Natalie received strange looks from everyone that she passed. She turned to Hermione and was about to ask her about it when she ran into someone she didn't know.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Natalie said politely as she bent down to help pick up the boy's books.

"Think you're better than us, do you?" He said coldly snatching the books away from her and storming off.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked approaching from behind, who had been watching from back there.

"He's not the only one who has been acting this way. Loads of people have. Give me strange looks and all." Natalie answered picking her own books up from the floor.

As they entered the Great Hall, Natalie's friends soon knew what she was talking about. People she passed huddled next to their neighbor to whisper something, though their eyes were still transfixed on Natalie.

She heard bits and pieces of their whisperings.

"-loads of it in Gringotts-"

"-more than Malfoy-"

"-from her mother-"

Natalie took a seat in between Hermione and Ginny, put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands.

"How could they know?" Natalie asked them.

"Know what?" Ron said shoving some eggs into his mouth.

"About my…well…'inheritance'…" Natalie answered quietly.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked looking up from his plate. "You only told us, they couldn't have found out…unless…"

Everyone seemed to know what Harry was talking about.

"Have any of you told anybody?!" Natalie asked in a loud whisper to them.

All of them answered, "NO!" except for Ron, who sat their quietly eating his food.

"Ron?" Hermione asked tensely.

"What?" He asked trying to act surprised that she had asked him, though he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

They were all staring at Ron waiting for him to say something. Finally, he did.

"Well…I might have told Neville." He said quietly.

"Neville?!" They all said in unison.

"Yeah…" Ron answered as he poked his bacon. "And Neville may have told Seamus and…"

There were a few groans but Ron continued on.

"…Seamus may have told Dean, and Dean may have told Lee and…"

"WE GET IT!" Harry said loudly. "In other words you spilled although you said you wouldn't."

They all ate in silence for the rest of breakfast.

"Hey look who it is…" Ginny said glumly looking behind Natalie.

Natalie didn't care who it was she just knew she was really tired all of the sudden. She let out a huge yawn and threw out her arms to stretch. She felt something hard collide with her fist.

She quickly pulled back her arm and turned around to see a shocked Malfoy. He was holding his nose which was bleeding profusely.

"Oh no!" Natalie said jumping up from her seat to go to Malfoy. "We have to get to the hospital wing!"

They all watched as Natalie and Malfoy exited the Hall. Harry had a rather sour look on his face but continued to eat anyway.

Ron was laughing but Hermione was looking as worried as Natalie was.

--------

Harry seemed very tense all day and didn't speak much. Neither Natalie nor Malfoy showed up to any classes.

Around midnight, Harry, Hermione and Ron were all sitting by the fire doing homework, and Natalie came in through the portrait hole.

They all turned to her and watched her take a seat next to Hermione.

"Is he ok?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. He got out of the hospital wing about an hour ago." She answered.

"Madame Pomfrey can heal broken noses in a second. What took so long? And if he got out of the wing an hour ago why are you just now getting here?" Harry asked harshly continuing to look at his book.

Natalie glared at Harry for a few minutes then stood up and walked quickly up the stairs and slammed the dormitory door behind her.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked rounding on Harry.

"I think that her and Malfoy were having a great time up there in the hospital wing." Harry said even harsher.

"You little shit." Hermione said quietly then got up and went up to bed, too.

Harry slammed his books shut and began to stuff them messily into his bag. Ron was still amazed at what Hermione had said, ("Did she actually curse? Did she? Ha!").

------

Harry couldn't sleep that night. For some reason, the thought of Malfoy and Natalie spending the whole day together made his feel sick on his stomach.

A/N: Hey guys!! Sorry this is a really short chapter but I had to get something started for the next chapter ya know? Ok! The next one will be longer! Yay! Band camp over! Woo hoo! But school starts in a week! Ugh! Oh well…Please review!! PLEASE!! Thanks so much man I missed all you peoples the past two weeks!


	14. Hogsmede

Disclaimer: I still own nothing!

A/N: Hey I know the last chapter sucked seriously and was short but sorry it had been a long day! I'm going to try to make this one much better and longer! Please Review!! School stars tomorrow! Ahhh!!

Chapter 14

Natalie woke bright and early that morning with the sun shining in her eyes. She rolled onto her side and looked at the clock. It was 6:00! She never woke up this early unless it was for classes.

She rolled out of bed and put on a robe and went down into the common room. The only people down there were a few first years trading candy and cards.

Natalie went and took a seat in a big comfy arm chair by the fire; the one Harry always sat in. Now she knew why. It was so comfy!

She pulled up her legs into the chair and wrapped her arms around them. She began to gaze out the window at the grounds when she saw a bright blonde head walking quickly across the grounds.

She stood up and went over to the window and pressed her hands against the glass to get a better look. He was headed for the Forbidden Forest.

She didn't know whether she should tell a teacher, go down there herself, or just ignore it.

She turned around quickly and ran into someone. She saw that it was just Fred…or George.

"Sorry. Excuse me." She made her way around him and the arm chair.

"What are you looking at?" He asked.

"Oh nothing. Just looking outside." She answered. "What's today?"

"Saturday." Fred said with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Thanks." She said and sprinted up to the dorm.

She went to Hermione's four-poster bed and pulled back the curtain. But Hermione was gone.

"I would have seen her if she came down there." Natalie thought to herself.

She decided just to wait in the Common Room for Hermione to come back.

Natalie waited half and hour before Hermione climbed through the portrait hole.

"Hey! Where were you?" Natalie asked examining Hermione's red cheeks and nose.

"I just went for a walk outside. Pretty chilly out there." She took a seat by the fire.

"Malfoy was out there, did you see him?" Natalie asked taking a seat next to her.

"Malfoy? Oh no, didn't see him. Wonder what he was doing." Hermione said quite unconvincingly.

Natalie was about to say more when she heard a pair of feet come sprinting down the boy's dormitory.

Harry and Ron came down practically skipping.

"What are ya'll so happy about?" Hermione asked and Natalie could tell how happy she was to change the subject.

"Oh nothing! It's just a beautiful Saturday morning!" Harry said with his eyes fixed on Natalie.

But she didn't notice. She was staring at the table, her chin in her hands.

"We go to Hogsmede today!" Ron said sitting next to Hermione and pulling her into a warm hug then kissing her on the cheek. Hermione just giggled and blushed.

"We do?!" Natalie asked nearly jumping from her seat. She had completely forgotten about Malfoy. She couldn't wait to see Hogsmede.

"Yeah." Ron answered. "And tomorrow night those people from Beuxbaton and Durmstrang are coming here for the tournament."

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" Harry said taking a seat three chairs away from Natalie.

They all went down to breakfast together and took seats next to Neville and Ginny. They ate quickly through their breakfast and headed back upstairs to get dressed for Hogsmede.

They reached the top of the stairs right outside of the Great Hall and ran into Malfoy.

"Sorry." He said to Harry who he had bumped into.

Harry couldn't believe what he just heard. Malfoy had _apologized_ to him without being forced to and wasn't making fun of any of them.

"Natalie could I talk to you for a sec?" Malfoy asked politely.

Natalie left the staring crowd a few feet away. "Hey."

"Hey. I was just wondering if…like today we go to Hogsmede and all. But anyways…if we could like spend the day together." He asked quietly.

"Well, do you mean as a date? Or as in you hang with all of us?" She asked.

"All of you. I mean I really just wanted to hang with you but it would be cool to get to know them, too." He answered still quietly.

"Yeah, sure! That would be fun!" She said happily.

Malfoy let out a breath of relief and hugged her. "Thanks."

She went back to the group and he left the opposite direction.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked.

"He just wanted to know if he could spend the day with us, that's all." She said leading the crowd up some stairs.

"Annnnd?" Ron asked.

"I told him 'of course'! He's a nice guy."

They separated into their common rooms to get dressed. Hermione had a pleased look on her face that was annoying Natalie, but she didn't ask.

Natalie pulled on some baggy-ish khaki's that hung right below her hips and were sooo comfy. She picked out a small, rather tight shirt that was white with a v-neck and a collar. It showed about a half inch of her stomach but she didn't care. She'd just pull it down when a teacher was near.

She quickly put on her white DC's, grabbed her purse and went down to meet the others.

Harry tried his best not to look at her but it didn't work. They all left the common room to find Malfoy waiting for them right outside it, who was apparently being harassed by the Fat Lady by the look on his face.

He saw Natalie and his mouth dropped open. He quickly closed it then put his arm around Natalie's waist. They walked off together with Ron and Hermione holding hands behind them and Harry all alone in the back.

They all let go of each other and Natalie pulled her shirt down when they went outside to get their names checked off the list. The five of them climbed into a carriage which started and headed for Hogsmede.

It was a really fun day for everyone except for Harry who always stayed in the back with his arms folded across his chest and a pissed look on his face. And every now and then he shot a very evil glance at Malfoy.

Malfoy bought Natalie a rose that when you sniffed it, it turned into a butterfly.

Hermione and Ron left the group to go to the Three Broomstick's and Harry left Malfoy and Natalie to go hang with Fred and George in the joke shop.

By the end of the day, Harry was in the worst mood ever. He met up with Hermione and Ron and asked where 'they' were.

"Oh they said they were going to go ahead and get in the carriage. We should go ahead and go join them." Hermione answered getting down from her stool.

They walked over to their carriage and Harry opened the door to see both of them kissing quite passionately. They both stopped immediately. Harry slammed the door shut and went up to another carriage with Neville in it and joined him.

Hermione and Ron ran up to the carriage to see what made Harry so mad.

"What happened?" Hermione asked with that same worried look on her face that she always had on.

"Um….well…" Natalie stammered. "We were kind of…kissing." She said with the last word almost not audible.

"Oh no." Ron said. "Hey, I'll ride with him, ok?" Hermione nodded and Ron ran up to the carriage where Harry was. Hermione got in the carriage and it took off.


	15. Upsetting news

Disclaimer: I still own nothing…tee hee!!

Chapter 15

When they arrived at the castle, Hermione looked out the window to watch a fuming Harry storm up the entrance stairs with Ron running behind him to catch up.

Malfoy looked at Natalie and opened his mouth to say something but closed it again, and got out of the carriage and disappeared behind the castle doors.

"Why did I do that?" Natalie asked looking at the carriage floor.

"I don't know. But don't worry about it, ok? Hopefully this will all be cleared up soon." Hermione looked a little skeptical when she mentioned the last sentence.

Hermione and Natalie looked around for Ron and Harry in the common room but they weren't there.

"Ugh. Come on, let's get some lunch." Hermione said.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry. I'm just gonna go outside for a few hours." Natalie said heading up to her dorm.

She heard the portrait door shut at the bottom of the stairs and knew that Hermione was gone. She went into the dorm, opened her suitcase and pulled out her skateboard.

It was about seven years old and the ends of the grip tape were curling up. She dashed down all the stair cases and went outside.

Most of the grounds were covered in grass and that wouldn't be much fun to skate on. She found a little tunnel that was cement. She wouldn't be able to do many stress-relieving tricks but it was better than nothing.

It only took Natalie about five minutes to realize that it wouldn't work and she needed a set of stairs.

She went around to the back of the castle and found about seven cement stairs with a rail in the middle that led up to a small door. It was perfect. She did ollies, kick-flips, 360's, pop shuvits, anything she could think of. She loved to grind the most though.

She jumped up to do a nose grind but there was a loud bang inside the door. She lost focus, rolled down the stairs and landed on her stomach with the skateboard hitting her hard in the back.

She moaned and threw the skateboard off of her. She clutched her back as she stood up and turned around to see a flustered Professor Snape in the doorway.

"What were you doing?" He asked irritably.

"Just hitting anything I could find, Professor." She answered.

"Excuse me?!" He asked slightly confused.

She didn't know why she just said that considering Professor Snape didn't know "skater" terms.

"Sorry. I was just skateboarding." She said reaching down to get her board.

"Skateboarding? On these steps? Why you spoiled little twit! This school is not your playground and you do not tear it up whenever you like! You should be at lunch anyways!" He said grabbing her arm and leading her into the castle.

He didn't let go of her when they were inside. He dragged her down the hallway and up some stairs into a room where Professor McGonagall was sitting.

"Is there a problem, Professor?" McGonagall asked without looking up.

"This little girl was vandalizing school property." He said curtly.

"Really? How?" McGonagall asked now looking up.

"With her skateboard." He answered.

"With a skateboard? How could she do that?" She asked.

"She was "hitting" it I guess. That's what she said." He answered again.

Natalie was trying hard not to laugh. He got mad over the stupidest things and he didn't even know what he was talking about.

"Professor I was just grinding. It didn't hurt it." Natalie said. She could tell that Professor McGonagall didn't know what she was talking about either but was too busy to worry about it.

"Don't let it happen again." She said and looked back down at some papers.

Professor Snape let go of her arm, shot her a nasty look and left the room.

Natalie left the room and decided that she would just stay in the common room for the rest of the lunch hour.

She was going up some stairs when she ran into Malfoy.

He tried to walk around her but she grabbed his arm.

"What was that all about?!" She asked in a loud whisper.

"What was what all about?" He asked looking at her hand clasped tightly around his arm.

"I kiss you and then you ditch me and try to avoid me? What the fuck man?" She said louder than she intended.

He looked around to make sure no one was near then said really quietly, "Ok well I'm not supposed to tell you this but…"

"What!?"

"I was paid to do it."

Natalie stared at him with her mouth open. He never really liked her?

"It was all fake? One big joke? Who paid you?" She asked quietly.

"I don't think I can tell you."

"Just tell me. I don't care if you can't."

"Hermione."

"WHAT?!"

"Shhh!" He said looking around nervously.

"But she's my best friend. Why would she do that? Are you lying?" Tears were coming to her eyes. Hermione? Of all people…Hermione?

"No, I'm not lying. She didn't tell me why she wanted me to but she said to just make sure I did it when Harry was around."

"Harry?! What has he got to do with it?!" She asked.

"I don't know. But I have to go." He stopped and looked at her. "I'm sorry." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and took off.

Natalie just stood there stunned. Hermione?

She turned around and went up to the common room. She put her skateboard under her bed and went down to the common room.

She took a seat next to the fire. She was going to wait for Hermione and corner her. She didn't know if she was more sad or mad.

About 15 minutes later Harry, Ron and Hermione entered all talking loudly.

"Well hello Hermione." Natalie said rather evilly.

A/N: HEYYY EVERYBODY!!! I'm SOOOOOO sorry it's taken me so long to update I've just been so busy with school! I'm going to update a lot sooner now that I've got school all straightened out. I've missed you guys so much and I've missed your reviews and hearing from you and everything! Haha well I hope you like the chappie. PLEASE REVIEW!!!! I don't care if you review just to talk to me and didn't even read the chapter. I just love to hear from you guys! Love you all! MUAH!! 333


	16. Said the wrong thing

Disclaimer: Im sad. I've only got 3 reviews on my new chappie. poo. Haha ok well I still own nothing.

Chapter 16

Hermione stopped dead when she saw Natalie with such an evil look on her face. Harry stopped talking, shot a quick glance at Ron and went upstairs to his dormitory. Ron followed Harry and Hermione took a seat next to Natalie.

"Hey Natalie. What's up?" Hermione questioned.

The evil look on Natalie's face disappeared immediately at Hermione's voice and turned into a sad one. The thought of Hermione doing this to her made her feel so stupid and used.

"I ran into Draco about 30 minutes ago." Natalie started.

Hermione suddenly became very tense.

"He told me…that….um…well…about your little 'secret.'" Natalie said emphasizing 'secret.'

Hermione tried to pull off a confused look. "Secret? With Malfoy? I don't know what your talking about."

"Oh yes you do…Malfoy…money….kiss…me….your amusement…ring a bell?"

Hermione looked at her feet and didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Well?" Natalie asked getting annoyed at Hermione's silence.

"There was a purpose to it." Hermione said quietly.

"A purpose?!!? What because you were bored and…"

"No, I wasn't bored, I…"

"What? Just wanted to see me be humiliated?"

"Oh course not, you…"

"Then what was the 'oh-so-important purpose?"

"I WANTED HARRY JEALOUS!!"

There was a silence and a few first years looked over nervously, packed up there stuff and left in a hurry.

"Jealous? Why?" Natalie asked quietly.

"Because…I wanted to see how he really felt about you and how he would react to it. It wasn't meant to hurt you, just Harry."

"But I was heartbroken afterwards! I liked him, Hermione. A lot. And he led me on and now I know it was nothing." Natalie said.

Hermione had a pitiful look on her face and was studying Natalie's. Natalie watched Hermione's eyes move from her face to something behind her. Natalie turned around to see Harry at the top of the stairs.

"Harry!" Hermione said suddenly looking scared.

"HURT _ME_?!" Harry bellowed at the top of the stairs and pointing to himself when he said 'me'.

"I hope you're not mad at me, I…"

"YOU CAN BE SURE AS HELL IM MAD AT YOU!"

"Harry, don't…"

"AND NOTHING WILL _EVER_ MAKE ME FEEL _ANYTHING_ FOR THAT BITCH!" He said still looking at Hermione but pointing at Natalie.

Natalie stared at Harry with no emotion in her face and then left through the portrait hole, slamming it behind her. They all could hear, "Now that's not necessary, young lady!" on the outside and figured it was the fat lady.

It was Ron who broke the silence this time.

"What did you say that for?"

Harry turned around sharply to look at Ron. He wanted to say something really mean but he knew that none of it would be true.

"I don't know." Harry said looking at the floor. He sat on the top stair and put his chin in his hands.

Hermione walked slowly up the stairs and took a seat next to Harry. She nervously reached to give him a hug and when she found out that it was safe, she loosed up and embraced him.

"I'm so sorry. I just needed to know and I knew you would never tell."

Harry nodded.

"Well…" Ron said looking down at Harry.

"What?" Harry said looking up at Ron.

"I think you owe someone an apology."

Harry nodded and got up.

"Come on lets go find her."

The three left the common room and went down to the Great Hall to see if she was in there. They didn't see her anywhere so they kept looking. They searched the dungeons, the towers, the greenhouses, and Hagrid's hut.

They searched all over the grounds but couldn't find her anywhere.

"Where could she be?" Hermione said. She was starting to get worried.

"Don't worry, she's around here somewhere." Ron said reassuringly.

"Do you think we should tell McGonagall?" Hermione asked Harry.

Before Harry could answer they all heard a terrified scream. It broke through the silence of the grounds like an ax splitting wood.

They all exchanged horrified glances and ran inside to find Dumbledore. Harry ran into the Great Hall knocking into someone.

"Harry!"

"What is it Neville?" Harry said rubbing his head.

"It's Natalie. She's been hurt."

A/N: heheheeheheheheheh!!! Cliffhanger! Hooray!! Haha well this chapter was definitely not one of my good ones but yeah…sorry I have an essay to write tonight so that's why it's short. I'll make next one longer and a lot more interesting if YOU REVIEW!! I only got like 4 reviews on my last chapter! It made me sad. PLEASE REVIEW!!!! IT MAKES ME SOOOOOO FRIGGIN HAPPY!! AHHH!! LOVE TO ALL!!


	17. a figure

Disclaimer: I own nothing…

Chapter 17

They all exchanged nervous glances.

"Where is she?!"

"What happened?!"

"Is she alright?!"

"Does Dumbledore know?!"

"How bad is it?!"

"Has-"

"Be quiet!" Neville said over the mass of questions. "She's in the hospital wing."

Without another word Harry, Ron and Hermione all dashed up the stairs. As they made their way up, they ran into a bunch of terrified first years and a few sixth years that just yelled at them and kept going. It seemed as if it took forever to get to the hospital wing.

When they arrived they saw Dumbledore, McGonagall, Madame Pomfrey, Professor Sprout, Snape, and Moody all surrounding one bed. Right as they entered the room, Dumbledore walked up to them and ushered them out.

"I'm sorry but she cannot have visitors at the moment."

"Why not?! You lot are in there!"

"We are grown-ups. She needs time to recover. I assure you she will be fine. Just come back tomorrow after lunch." He said opening the door wide enough for them to leave.

"But we want to see her now! What's wrong with her?"

"Where not sure yet but give us time and we will know. Now please, for her sake, leave."

They all left the room reluctantly and Dumbledore shut the door behind them.

"Why won't they let us know?" Ron said leading the way down a set of stairs. "What could be so 'important' that only they could know?"

Harry had an idea, but no. That was too ridiculous. But another idea came to his mind.

"Hermione, this isn't another one if your little jokes is it?" Harry asked rounding on her.

Hermione looked disgusted. "Of course not! This isn't a joke! Why do you think I would do that?!"

"Because you did that other thing to see what my 'feelings' were for her; I thought this was just like a back-up plan or something." He answered.

"Well it's not and I'm appalled that you think I would do this to her!" She said catching up with Ron a few stairs ahead to get away from Harry.

When they got to the common room it was completely empty.

They all took their usual seats by the fire. No one talked for a few minutes. Hermione got up form her seat and took a seat on the floor right in front of the fire to get really warm.

"Who's that?" Ron said looking out the window.

"Who?" Hermione and Harry asked in unison.

The all got up and stared out the window. A figure was walking across the grounds very quickly and was headed towards the forest. He had a hooded cloak on and thick boots.

"Should we tell someone?" Hermione asked.

"No, they just think we were trying to 'save the day' or something like they always do." Harry said taking one last look at the person and then taking his seat again.

"Yeah, you're right. But there's something about him I don't like." Ron said going to his seat also.

Hermione stood at the window and just watched him until he disappeared into the woods.

"Hmmm…well I guess. I'm going to bed." Hermione grabbed her books and went upstairs. Harry and Ron followed suit and went up to their dorm.

A/N: Im soooo sorry this was such a really short chapter. And a boring one! sorry! Were getting the hurricane weather down here and my power keeps turning off so im kinda screwed at the moment. Sorry!! I plan to update by the end of the week! Ok PLEASE REVIEW!! I love you all!!!


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